MEMOIRS
OF THE REIGN OF
KING GEORGE THE THIRD.
VOL. III.
J. Cook, sc.
HON. CHARLES TOWNSHEND.
FROM THE ORIGINAL BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.
London. Published by Richard Bentley 1845
MEMOIRS
OF THE REIGN OF
KING GEORGE THE THIRD.
By HORACE WALPOLE,
YOUNGEST SON OF SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD.
NOW FIRST PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINAL MSS.
EDITED, WITH NOTES,
By Sir DENIS LE MARCHANT, Bart.
VOL. III.
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
1845.
LONDON:
Printed by S. & J. Bentley, Wilson, and Fley,
Bangor House, Shoe Lane.
iii
ADVERTISEMENT.
Since the publication of the preceding volumesof this work, the Editor has been favoured withsome important communications, which call for hispublic and most grateful acknowledgements.
The Duke of Bedford kindly granted him theuse of the valuable collection of letters at Woburn,left by his ancestor, John Duke of Bedford, fromwhich he should have been less sparing in his extracts,had not the publication of the concludingvolume of that nobleman’s correspondence beenexpected in the course of the present year.
The Editor’s inquiries have, in many instances,been materially assisted by the Journal and Correspondenceof Sir Gilbert Elliot—the counsellorand intimate friend of Lord Bute, and one ofthe most accomplished statesmen of his day. Hisivpapers are particularly valuable, as constituting,perhaps, the only authority which can be reliedon for the views of the Court, at a time thatit has been charged with originating a system ofunconstitutional interference with the governmentof the country. Amongst them have been preservedsome very interesting letters that passedbetween Lord Bute and Sir Gilbert, during criticalperiods of the political career of the former,which throw considerable light on his characterand intentions. Whatever benefit may have beenconferred on this work by the information thusplaced at the Editor’s disposal, is due to theliberality of the Earl of Minto, who readily consentedto the Editor’s consulting such of his grandfather’spapers as related to the early part ofGeorge the Third’s reign, adding at the same timeseveral explanations which, coming from a memberof Sir Gilbert’s family, were especially valuable.
Through the friendship of Lord Brougham, towhom the Editor is also indebted for many valuablesuggestions, access was obtained to a collection ofGeorge the Third’s Letters to Lord North, inthe possessi